Streaming transfer server, method, computer program and computer program product for transferring receiving of media content

ABSTRACT

It is presented a method for transferring receiving of streaming content from a first media receiver to a second media receiver, the method comprising the steps, executed in a streaming transfer server, of: receiving a presence message indicating the presence of the second media receiver; receiving an in use message indicating that the first media receiver is in active use by the user; transmitting a present media receiver message to the first media receiver, the present media receiver message comprising an identifier of the second media receiver; receiving a transfer message indicating that the receiving of the streaming content should be transferred from the first media receiver to the second media receiver; obtaining an identifier of the streaming content; and transmitting an initiate content message to the second media receiver, wherein the initiate content message comprises the identifier of the streaming content.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to receiving streaming content and moreparticularly to transferring receiving of streaming content from onemedia receiver to another.

BACKGROUND

Video streaming is a widely used service on the Internet today. YouTubeis a prime example of a video streaming web portal used by millions ofusers daily. Usually short user generated clips are offered but latelyfull length movies are also available, sometimes bundled withadvertisements. Many other streaming services of different variants arealso available.

Users these days have more and more devices able to be used to consumestreaming services such as YouTube. For example, apart from traditionalpersonal computers, devices such as mobile phones, televisions, tabletcomputers and even some car entertainment systems can access YouTubetoday.

However, sometimes a user wishes to transfer the receiving of mediacontent from one device to another. A rudimentary way of doing this taskwould e.g. be to somehow save the URL of a current content such as in abookmark, synchronise the bookmark with the target device and navigateto the bookmark on the target device. However, this is a cumbersome andpotentially unreliable process.

SUMMARY

An object of embodiments herein is to provide a simpler and more robustway to combine an IP network and a cable television network for contentdelivery.

According to a first embodiment, it is presented a streaming transferserver for transferring receiving of streaming content from a firstmedia receiver to a second media receiver, wherein both the first andsecond media receivers are associated with the same user. The streamingtransfer server comprises: a presence message receiver arranged toreceive a presence message indicating the presence of the second mediareceiver; an in use message receiver arranged to receive an in usemessage indicating that the first media receiver is in active use by theuser; a present media receiver message transmitter arranged to transmita present media receiver message to the first media receiver, thepresent media receiver message comprising an identifier of the secondmedia receiver; a transfer message receiver arranged to receive atransfer message indicating that the receiving of the streaming contentshould be transferred from the first media receiver to the second mediareceiver, wherein the transfer message comprises an identifier of thestreaming content; a content identifier arranged to obtain an identifierof the streaming content; and an initiate content message transmitterarranged to transmit an initiate content message to the second mediareceiver, wherein the initiate content message comprises the identifierof the streaming content and the current position in the streamingcontent.

The in use message receiver may further be arranged to receive an in usemessage indicating that the second media receiver is in active use bythe user; and the present media receiver message transmitter may furtherbe arranged to transmit a present media receiver message to the secondmedia receiver, the present media receiver message comprising anidentifier of the first media receiver.

The streaming transfer server may further comprise: a current positionobtainer arranged to obtain a current position in the streaming content;and the initiate content message may comprise the current position inthe streaming content.

The transfer message may comprise the current position in the streamingcontent and the current position obtainer is arranged to obtain thecurrent position from the transfer message.

The current position obtainer may be arranged to obtain the currentposition by querying a content server serving the streaming content.

The transfer message may comprise the identifier of the streamingcontent and the content identifier may be arranged to obtain theidentifier of the streaming content from the transfer message.

The content identifier may be arranged to obtain the identifier of thestreaming content by querying the first media receiver.

The presence message receiver is arranged to receive a presence messagefrom a device gateway capable of discovering presence of a mediareceiver connected to the device gateway.

The presence message receiver may further be arranged to receive apresence message indicating the presence of a third media receiver; andthe present media receiver message transmitter may further be arrangedto transmit a present media receiver message comprising an identifier ofthe third media receiver.

The presence message receiver may further be arranged to receive adeactivate message indicating that the first media receiver has beendeactivated; and the present media receiver message transmitter mayfurther be arranged to transmit a present media receiver message to thesecond media receiver, the present media receiver message comprising anindication that the first media receiver has been deactivated.

A second embodiment is a method for transferring receiving of streamingcontent from a first media receiver to a second media receiver, whereinboth the first and second media receivers are associated with the sameuser, the method comprising the steps, executed in a streaming transferserver, of: receiving a presence message indicating the presence of thesecond media receiver; receiving an in use message indicating that thefirst media receiver is in active use by the user; transmitting apresent media receiver message to the first media receiver, the presentmedia receiver message comprising an identifier of the second mediareceiver; receiving a transfer message indicating that the receiving ofthe streaming content should be transferred from the first mediareceiver to the second media receiver; obtaining an identifier of thestreaming content; and transmitting an initiate content message to thesecond media receiver, wherein the initiate content message comprisesthe identifier of the streaming content.

The method may further comprise, after the step of transmitting aninitiate content message: reiterating the step of receiving an in usemessage, wherein the in use message here indicates that the second mediareceiver is in active use by the user; reiterating the step oftransmitting a present media receiver message to the second mediareceiver, the present media receiver message here comprising anidentifier of the first media receiver.

The method may further comprise, prior to the step of transmitting aninitiate content message, the step of: obtaining a current position inthe streaming content; and wherein in the step of transmitting aninitiate content message, the initiate content message comprises thecurrent position in the streaming content.

The transfer message may comprise the current position in the streamingcontent and the step of obtaining a current position may compriseobtaining the current position from the transfer message.

The step of obtaining a current position may comprise obtaining thecurrent position by querying a content server arranged to stream thestreaming content.

The transfer message may comprise the identifier of the streamingcontent and the step of obtaining an identifier of the streaming contentmay comprise obtaining the identifier of the streaming content from thetransfer message.

The step of obtaining an identifier of the streaming content maycomprise obtaining the identifier of the streaming content by queryingthe first media receiver.

The step of receiving a presence message may comprise receiving apresence message from a device gateway capable of discovering presenceof a media receiver connected to the device gateway.

The step of receiving a presence message may further comprise receivinga presence message indicating the presence of a third media receiver;and the step of transmitting a present media receiver message, comprisestransmitting a present media receiver message comprising an identifierof the third media receiver.

The method may further comprise the steps of: receiving a deactivatemessage indicating that the first media receiver has been deactivated;and reiterating the step of transmitting a present media receivermessage to the second media receiver, the present media receiver messagecomprising an indication that the first media receiver has beendeactivated.

A third embodiment is a computer program for a streaming transfer serverto transfer receiving of streaming content from a first media receiverto a second media receiver, wherein both the first and second mediareceivers are associated with the same user, the computer programcomprising computer program code which, when run on the streamingtransfer server, causes the streaming transfer server to: receive apresence message indicating the presence of the second media receiver;receive an in use message indicating that the first media receiver is inactive use by the user; transmit a present media receiver message to thefirst media receiver, the present media receiver message comprising anidentifier of the second media receiver; receive a transfer messageindicating that the receiving of the streaming content should betransferred from the first media receiver to the second media receiver;obtain an identifier of the streaming content; and transmit an initiatecontent message to the second media receiver, wherein the initiatecontent message comprises the identifier of the streaming content.

A fourth embodiment is a computer program product comprising a computerprogram according to the third embodiment and a computer readable meanson which the computer program is stored.

It is to be noted that any feature of the first, second, third andfourth embodiments may, where appropriate, be applied to any other ofthese embodiments.

Generally, all terms used in the application are to be interpretedaccording to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unlessexplicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to “a/an/theelement, apparatus, component, means, step, etc.” are to be interpretedopenly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus,component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. Thesteps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in theexact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overview of signaling in anenvironment where embodiments of the invention can be applied;

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagrams illustrating communication in embodimentsbetween the components of FIG. 1 to transfer the receiving of contentfrom one media receiver to another;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a methodimplemented in the streaming transfer server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 a is a schematic diagram of components of the streaming transferserver of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 b is a schematic diagram showing functional modules of thestreaming transfer server of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 shows one example of a computer program product comprisingcomputer readable means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments ofthe invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided byway of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete,and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in theart. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overview of signaling in anenvironment where embodiments of the invention can be applied. A contentserver 16 is set up to be able to stream content. The content server canfor example serve streaming media such as video and/or audio to one ormore of the media receivers 12 a-z. The content server 16 can be one ormore physical entities in one or more locations providing a service suchas YouTube, e.g. accessible through the world wide web (www).Additionally, there may be more than one content server 16, but forsimplicity only one content server 16 is referred to hereinafter. Thecontent server 16 is connected to a streaming transfer server 10 whichis used when a user 5 a, 5 b would like to transfer the receiving ofmedia content from one device to another.

A first user 2 a is associated with a set of user devices 5 a which is acollection of media receivers 12 a-z. This association can for examplebe a subscription to a content service or a configuration in an IMS(Internet Protocol Multimedia System) system. Optionally, the mediareceivers 12 a-z are all registered to the user 2 a in a system such asthe IMS system.

The user 2 a has two gateways 14 a, 14 b which are capable ofdiscovering the presence of devices within their domain. For example, 14a can be a HIGA (Home IMS Gateway) arranged to discover when any of themedia receivers 12 a-b are powered on and available. The HIGA can forexample discover this using any suitable device discovery protocol, e.g.using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), UPnP (Universal Plug and Play),DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) which in turn uses UPnP, Bonjour,etc. The user 2 a has previously configured the HIGA such that devices12 a and 12 b are associated with the account of the user 2 a. Also, aPIGA (Portable IMS Gateway) 14 b is configured to be able to discoverthe portable media receiver 12 z.

As indicated by the three dots in FIG. 1, the user 2 a is not limited toshown gateways 14 a, 14 b or media receivers 12 a-z and can beconfigured to use more or fewer units. For example, the user could alsohave configured a CIGA (Car IMS Gateway) for use of a media streamingdevice in a car (not shown). The gateways 14 a-b are connected to thestreaming transfer server 10 to allow the streaming transfer server 10to keep track of what media receivers 12 a-z of the user 12 a arepresent, i.e. turned on and available for use.

Furthermore, the user 2 a has a media receiver 13 a which is connectedto the streaming transfer server without going through an intermediarygateway. This media receiver can for example be a general purposecomputer such as a personal computer or a tablet computer.

A second user 2 b has a separate set of user devices 5 b containingmedia receivers 12′a, 12′b and associated gateways 14′a, 14′c.Analogously, the gateways 14′a, 14′c are connected to the streamingtransfer server 10. Although not shown, the system supports more usersas necessary.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagrams illustrating communication in embodimentsbetween the components of FIG. 1 to transfer the receiving of contentfrom one media receiver to another. All communication can e.g. occurusing IP (Internet Protocol). In one embodiment, all signaling isperformed over HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol), and only the contentstreaming is over a different protocol such as UDP (User DatagramProtocol), or indeed also over HTTP.

Initially, the user 2 adds 20 devices to the streaming server 10. Thiscan be performed e.g. by direct configuration in the streaming server10, such as by using a web interface, e.g. during an accountregistration in the streaming transfer server 10. Alternatively oradditionally, the user 2 configures the gateways such as HIGA 14 a. Theconfiguration associates the user 2 with the media receivers that theuser 2 would like to be associated with herself/himself, such as a firstmedia receiver 12 a and a second media receiver 12 b. This configurationdoes not need to be repeated until new devices are to be added orexisting devices are removed.

Once configured, the second media receiver 12 b is turned on, which isdiscovered 21 by the HIGA 14 a. The HIGA 14 a sends a presence message22 to the streaming transfer server 10 to indicate the presence of thesecond media receiver 12 b. Also, the user 2 is using the first mediareceiver 12 a, which sends an in use message 23 to the HIGA 14 a. Thiscould also be discovered by the HIGA 14 a. The HIGA 14 a then sends anin use message 24 to the streaming transfer server 10 to indicate thatthe first media receiver 12 a is in active use by the user 2.

The streaming transfer server 10 then sends a present media receiver(s)message 26 to the media receiver which is currently in use by the user,i.e. first media receiver 12 a. The first media receiver 12 a is thenready to send a request 28 for content to the content server 16, afterwhich the content server 16 responds with the requested content 29.

In the user interface from the first media receiver 12 a to the user 2,the user 2 is presented with a list of potential streaming devices totransfer to. In this example, the list contains the second mediareceiver 12 b, since it is only the second media receiver 12 b which hasbeen discovered to be present. Had there been more media receiverspresent, the list would contain all those present media receivers.

The user 2, in this example, then decides to continue receiving thestreaming content from the content server 16 using the second mediareceiver 12 b. To transfer the receiving of streaming content from thefirst media receiver 12 a to the second media receiver 12 b, the usercommands 30 the media receiver in use, in this case the first mediareceiver 12 a, to effect the transfer.

The first media receiver 12 a sends 32 a transfer message to thestreaming transfer server 10 indicating that the receiving of thestreaming content should be transferred from the first media receiver 12a to the second media receiver 12 b. The first media receiver 12 a canthen stop receiving the streaming content, e.g. by sending a stopcommand to the content server 16 (not shown).

In a processing stage 34, the streaming transfer server 10 obtains theidentifier of the content, either as part of the transfer message or byquerying the first media receiver 12 a. Optionally, the streamingtransfer server 10 also obtains the current position in the streamingcontent to allow the streaming to start at the same position when thereceiving is transferred to the second media receiver 12 b.

The streaming transfer server 10 then sends an initiate content message33 to the second media receiver 12 b, where the initiate content messagecomprises the content identifier. The second media receiver 12 b, likeall media receivers herein, comprises a listening module so it is readyto receive such a message to initiate content. Once the second mediareceiver 12 b has received this command, it sends an in use message 35to the streaming transfer server 10. The streaming transfer serverupdates its tables to note that the second media receiver 12 b is nowthe media receiver in use for the user 2. The second media receiver 12 bthen sends a request 41 for the same content (as identified by thecontent identifier in the initiate content message), optionally with anindicator of position, to the content server 12, upon which the contentserver responds with streaming the content 42 to the second streamingdevice 12 b, optionally at the indicated position (same position as wasthe case for the first media receiver 12 a prior to the transfer).

In the user interface of the second media receiver 12 b, the user ispresented with an option to transfer the receiving of streaming contentback to the first media receiver 12 a.

If now a third media receiver 12 c is powered on (and previouslyregistered in the message to add devices 20), this is discovered 43 bythe HIGA 14 a. The HIGA 14 a then sends a discover message 44 to thestreaming transfer server 10, which sends a new present streamingdevice(s) message 45, then including references to the first mediareceiver 12 a and the third media receiver 12 c. This allows the secondmedia receiver 12 b, in its user interface, to present an option totransfer the streaming receiving to either the first media receiver 12 aor the third media receiver 12 c.

It is to be noted that while the media receivers presented in FIG. 2 areconnected to the streaming transfer server 10 via a gateway, any one ormore could equally well be media receivers connected to the streamingtransfer server without a gateway, such as the media receiver 13 a ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a methodimplemented in the streaming transfer server of FIG. 1. The methodcorresponds to the communication of the streaming transfer server 10 ofFIG. 2. The method can be implemented using a computer program asdepicted in FIG. 5. The method is to be construed as what occurs foreach user in the system of FIG. 1. In other words, there may be severalseparate instances of the method running for separate users at any onetime. In a scenario used to illustrate the embodiment described below,the method is executed for user A.

Prior to this method, the streaming transfer server 10 has beenconfigured with a list of associations between media receivers andusers, as exemplified in Table 1 below. Optionally a gateway field isincluded:

TABLE 1a media receiver to user association Media Discovery Userreceiver ID Gateway method Present A 1 i SIP 0 A 2 i SIP 0 A 3 ii UPnP 0B 7 iv DLNA 0 B 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Table 1a also includes a field for discovery method, e.g. SIP, UPnP,etc. The field called “present” indicates whether the media receiver inquestion is present, i.e. powered on and ready to receive a contentstream from the content server. The media receiver IDs can for examplebe IP addresses, SIP URIs (uniform resource identifiers) or UPnP UUIDs(universally unique identifiers).

The last line in the table represents the example where a media receiveris connected to the streaming transfer server 10 without a gateway, suchas media receiver 13 a of FIG. 1. Optionally, such a media receivercould also have a discovery method associated with it.

In a receive presence message(s) step 60, the streaming transfer server10 receives one or more presence messages indicating the presence ofdiscovered media receivers. This updates table 1 above, changing thefield present from 0 to 1 for any media receivers for which presencemessages are received. Optionally, this step includes a query from thestreaming transfer server 10, i.e. a poll to update discover mediareceiver states. In the described scenario two presence messages arereceived for media receivers with ids 2 and 3.

TABLE 1b media receiver states after presence updates Media DiscoveryUser receiver ID Gateway method Present A 1 i SIP 0 A 2 i SIP 1 A 3 iiUPnP 1 B 7 iv DLNA 0 B 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In a receive in use message step 61, the in use message is received, thein use message indicating that what media receiver is in active use by aparticular user. As an illustrative example, this can be stored by thestreaming transfer server 10 in a table such as Table 2a below. In thedescribed scenario, an in use message is received to indicate that themedia receiver with ID 1 is the in use media receiver for user A. User Bhas no media receiver in use in this scenario, indicated by a 0.

TABLE 2a association between user and media receiver being in use UserIn use media receiver ID A 1 B 0 . . . . . .

In a transmit present media receiver message step 62, the present mediareceiver message step 62 is sent to the media receiver being in use. Thepresent media receiver message comprises an identifier of all otherpresent media receivers for the user. In the described scenario, thepresent media receiver message is sent to the media receiver with ID 1for user A, and the message contains the media receiver identifiers of 2and 3. This allows the media receiver with ID 1 to present to the userin its user interface the ability to transfer receiving of streamingcontent to any one of the media receivers 2 or 3.

Once the user of the media receiver in use has selected which device totransfer to, the transfer message is received from the media receiver inuse in a receiving a transfer message step 63 from the media receiverwhich is in use. The transfer message indicates that the receiving ofthe streaming content should be transferred from the media receiver inuse to a target present media receiver. In the described scenario, thestreaming transfer server 10 receives a transfer message to transfer thereceiving of streaming content from the media receiver with ID 1 tomedia receiver with ID 3.

Then the identifier of the streaming content is obtained in an obtainidentifier of streaming content step 64. This can be performed e.g. byretrieving this information from the transfer message (if availablethere) or by querying the in use media receiver.

Optionally the current position in the streaming content is obtained inan obtain current position in streaming content step 65. This can beperformed e.g. by retrieving this information from the transfer messageor by querying the in use media receiver or the content server.

Once all relevant information has been obtained, the initiate contentmessage is sent to the target media receiver, as indicated in thetransfer message, i.e. in the described scenario the media receiver withID 3. The initiate content message comprises the identifier of thestreaming content and optionally the position in the streaming content.

The table indicating media receiver states is then updated to reflectthat the media receiver with ID 3 is now no longer a media receiver forwhich transfer is possible (since it has just been transferred controlto), giving a result as shown in Table 1c below:

TABLE 1c media receiver states after presence updates Media DiscoveryUser receiver ID Gateway method Present A 1 i SIP 1 A 2 i SIP 1 A 3 iiUPnP 0 B 7 iv DLNA 0 B 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The method then returns to the receive in use message step 62, where anin use message is received for the media receiver with ID 3. This willresult in an updated table for the in use media receivers as illustratedin Table 2b below:

TABLE 2b association between user and media receiver being in use UserIn use media receiver ID A 3 B 0 . . . . . .

In a separate thread, messages are received about updated presencestates. For example, in a receive deactivate message step 67, adeactivate message is received which removes a previously present mediareceiver from the media receiver states table. In our scenario, adeactivate message is received for the media receiver with ID 1, afterwhich the media receiver states table would look like what is shown inTable 1d below:

TABLE 1d media receiver states after presence updates Media DiscoveryUser receiver ID Gateway method Present A 1 i SIP 0 A 2 i SIP 1 A 3 iiUPnP 0 B 7 iv DLNA 0 B 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After such an update, the method continues to the transmit present mediareceiver(s) message step 62, to ensure that the media receiver being inuse has an updated list of present devices. In fact, the transmitpresent media receiver(s) message step 62 may send a present mediareceiver(s) message comprising no references to present media receiversif none are present.

FIG. 4 a is a schematic diagram of components of the streaming transferserver 10 of FIG. 1. A controller 47 is provided using any suitablecentral processing unit (CPU), microcontroller, digital signal processor(DSP), etc., capable of executing software instructions stored in acomputer readable media 48, e.g., memory. The computer readable media 48can be any combination of read and write memory (RAM) and read onlymemory (ROM). The computer readable media 48 also comprises persistentstorage, which, for example, can be any single one or combination ofmagnetic memory, optical memory, or solid state memory.

An input/output interface 49 is provided to allow the streaming transferserver 10 to communicate with other entities such as the media receivers12 a-z and content server 16.

A local operator interface is optionally provided to allow an operatorto interact with the streaming transfer server 10. The operatorinterface can include a display and an input device such as a keyboard,a touch function of the display and/or a positional input device such asa mouse, trackball, etc.

The streaming transfer server 10 can be integrated in one unit, or itcan be separated into several separate units, e.g. for reasons ofupgradeability, media receiver proximity, ease of implementation orredundancy.

FIG. 4 b is a schematic diagram showing functional modules of thestreaming transfer server 10 of FIG. 1. The modules can be implementedusing software such as a computer program executing in the streamingtransfer server 10.

All modules depend on an execution environment which can utilise thecontroller 47, computer program product 48 and/or I/O interface 49 ofFIG. 4 a. The modules implement communication of the streaming transferserver 10 of FIG. 2 and correspond to the method steps of FIG. 3.

A presence message receiver 50 is arranged to receive the presencemessage indicating the presence of any media receiver 12 b, wherein thepresence message comprises an identifier of the user and the mediareceiver which is present.

An in use message receiver 51 is arranged to receive the in use messageindicating which media receiver is in active use by a particular user.The in use message thus comprises an identifier of the user and themedia receiver being in use.

A present media receiver message transmitter 52 is arranged to transmitthe present media receiver message to the media receiver being in use.

A transfer message receiver 53 is arranged to receive the transfermessage indicating that the receiving of the streaming content should betransferred from the media receiver being in use to a target mediareceiver.

A content identifier 54 is arranged to obtain the identifier of thestreaming content.

An initiate content message transmitter 56 is arranged to transmit theinitiate content message to the target media receiver.

An optional current position obtainer 55 can be arranged to obtain thecurrent position in the streaming content prior to the transfer. In suchcases, the initiate content message comprises the current position inthe streaming content.

FIG. 5 shows one example of a computer program product 70 comprisingcomputer readable means. On this computer readable means a computerprogram 71 can be stored, which computer program 71 can cause acontroller to execute a method according to embodiments describedherein. In this example, the computer program product is an opticaldisc, such as a CD (compact disc) or a DVD (digital versatile disc) or aBlu-Ray disc. As explained above, the computer program product couldalso be embodied as a memory of a device, such as memory 48 of thestreaming transfer server 10. While the computer program 71 is hereschematically shown as a track on the depicted optical disk, thecomputer program can be stored in any way which is suitable for thecomputer program product, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) flashdrive.

The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a fewembodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled inthe art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equallypossible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appendedpatent claims.

1. A streaming transfer server for transferring receiving of streamingcontent from a first media receiver to a second media receiver, whereinboth the first and second media receivers are associated with the sameuser, the streaming transfer server comprising: a presence messagereceiver arranged to receive a presence message indicating the presenceof the second media receiver; an in use message receiver arranged toreceive an in use message indicating that the first media receiver is inactive use by the user; a present media receiver message transmitterarranged to transmit a present media receiver message to the first mediareceiver, the present media receiver message comprising an identifier ofthe second media receiver; a transfer message receiver arranged toreceive a transfer message indicating that the receiving of thestreaming content should be transferred from the first media receiver tothe second media receiver; a content identifier arranged to obtain anidentifier of the streaming content; and an initiate content messagetransmitter arranged to transmit an initiate content message to thesecond media receiver, wherein the initiate content message comprisesthe identifier of the streaming content.
 2. The streaming transferserver according to claim 1, wherein: the in use message receiver isfurther arranged to receive an in use message indicating that the secondmedia receiver is in active use by the user; and the present mediareceiver message transmitter is further arranged to transmit a presentmedia receiver message to the second media receiver, the present mediareceiver message comprising an identifier of the first media receiver.3. The streaming transfer server according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a current position obtainer arranged to obtain a currentposition in the streaming content; and wherein the initiate contentmessage comprises the current position in the streaming content.
 4. Thestreaming transfer server according to claim 1, wherein the transfermessage comprises the current position in the streaming content and thecurrent position obtainer is arranged to obtain the current positionfrom the transfer message.
 5. The streaming transfer server according toclaim 1, wherein the current position obtainer is arranged to obtain thecurrent position by querying a content server serving the streamingcontent.
 6. The streaming transfer server according to claim 1, whereinthe transfer message comprises the identifier of the streaming contentand the content identifier is arranged to obtain the identifier of thestreaming content from the transfer message.
 7. The streaming transferserver according to claim 1, wherein the content identifier is arrangedto obtain the identifier of the streaming content by querying the firstmedia receiver.
 8. The streaming transfer server according to claim 1,wherein the presence message receiver is arranged to receive a presencemessage from a device gateway capable of discovering presence of a mediareceiver connected to the device gateway.
 9. The streaming transferserver according to claim 1, wherein: the presence message receiver isfurther arranged to receive a presence message indicating the presenceof a third media receiver; and the present media receiver messagetransmitter is further arranged to transmit a present media receivermessage comprising an identifier of the third media receiver.
 10. Thestreaming transfer server according to claim 1, wherein the presencemessage receiver is further arranged to receive a deactivate messageindicating that the first media receiver has been deactivated; and thepresent media receiver message transmitter is further arranged totransmit a present media receiver message to the second media receiver,the present media receiver message comprising an indication that thefirst media receiver has been deactivated.
 11. A method for transferringreceiving of streaming content from a first media receiver to a secondmedia receiver, wherein both the first and second media receivers areassociated with the same user, the method comprising the steps, executedin a streaming transfer server, of: receiving a presence messageindicating the presence of the second media receiver; receiving an inuse message indicating that the first media receiver is in active use bythe user; transmitting a present media receiver message to the firstmedia receiver, the present media receiver message comprising anidentifier of the second media receiver; receiving a transfer messageindicating that the receiving of the streaming content should betransferred from the first media receiver to the second media receiver;obtaining an identifier of the streaming content; and transmitting aninitiate content message to the second media receiver, wherein theinitiate content message comprises the identifier of the streamingcontent.
 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising, afterthe step of transmitting an initiate content message: reiterating thestep of receiving an in use message, wherein the in use message hereindicates that the second media receiver is in active use by the user;reiterating the step of transmitting a present media receiver message tothe second media receiver, the present media receiver message herecomprising an identifier of the first media receiver.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 11, further comprising, prior to the step oftransmitting an initiate content message the step of: obtaining acurrent position in the streaming content; and wherein in the step oftransmitting an initiate content message, the initiate content messagecomprises the current position in the streaming content.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the transfer message comprises thecurrent position in the streaming content and the step of obtaining acurrent position comprises obtaining the current position from thetransfer message.
 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the stepof obtaining a current position comprises obtaining the current positionby querying a content server arranged to stream the streaming content.16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the transfer messagecomprises the identifier of the streaming content and the step ofobtaining an identifier of the streaming content comprises obtaining theidentifier of the streaming content from the transfer message.
 17. Themethod according to claim 11, wherein the step of obtaining anidentifier of the streaming content comprises obtaining the identifierof the streaming content by querying the first media receiver.
 18. Themethod according to claim 11, wherein the step of receiving a presencemessage comprises receiving a presence message from a device gatewaycapable of discovering presence of a media receiver connected to thedevice gateway.
 19. The method according to claim 11, wherein the stepof receiving a presence message further comprises receiving a presencemessage indicating the presence of a third media receiver; and whereinthe step of transmitting a present media receiver message comprisestransmitting a present media receiver message comprising an identifierof the third media receiver.
 20. The method according to claim 11,further comprising the steps of: receiving a deactivate messageindicating that the first media receiver has been deactivated; andreiterating the step of transmitting a present media receiver message tothe second media receiver, the present media receiver message comprisingan indication that the first media receiver has been deactivated.
 21. Acomputer program for a streaming transfer server to transfer receivingof streaming content from a first media receiver to a second mediareceiver, wherein both the first and second media receivers areassociated with the same user, the computer program comprising computerprogram code which, when run on the streaming transfer server, causesthe streaming transfer server to: receive a presence message indicatingthe presence of the second media receiver; receive an in use messageindicating that the first media receiver is in active use by the user;transmit a present media receiver message to the first media receiver,the present media receiver message comprising an identifier of thesecond media receiver; receive a transfer message indicating that thereceiving of the streaming content should be transferred from the firstmedia receiver to the second media receiver; obtain an identifier of thestreaming content; and transmit an initiate content message to thesecond media receiver, wherein the initiate content message comprisesthe identifier of the streaming content.
 22. A computer program productcomprising a computer program according to claim 21 and a non-transitorycomputer readable means media on which the computer program is stored.